Company

Cleveland Cavaliers (45-37, 3-2) vs
Washington Wizards (43-39, 2-3)
Verizon Center, Washington DC
Friday, May 2, 2008
7:00 p.m. ET
ESPN2/FSN OH/WUAB, WTAM

Game 5, chance to clinch the series, at home, up 5 points with 90 seconds left to go and the ball in your possession. If offered up that scenario, you’d take it in a heartbeat. Well, that’s exactly what the Cavaliers had on Wednesday night at the Q, and through good defense by Washington, bad decision making by the Cavaliers, and an attacking and efficienct game plan on offense by the Wizards the Cavaliers found themselves now with only a 3-2 advantage in this series and having to now head to the Capital to try to clinch this series. The good news for Cleveland? In the 3 consecutive seasons playing Washington in the playoffs, the Cavaliers are 5-2 in the Verizon Center and have won 3 of their last 4 close out games on the road. The Cavs are used to being in this position, and they have thrived in it. Can they keep this trend alive tonight?

Probable Starters

Cleveland Cavaliers:

-G Delonte West (11.4 ppg, 4.6 apg, 1.4 spg, 14.93 PER)
-G Wally Szczerbiak (7.8 ppg, 1.6 apg, .250 3-pt%, 6.49 PER)
-F LeBron James (30.4 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 6.6 apg, 27.74 PER)
-F Ben Wallace (3.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 11.20 PER)
-C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (15.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 0.6 bpg, 17.98 PER)

-Key Reserves: Daniel Gibson (9.84 PER), Devin Brown (7.73 PER), Joe Smith (8.43 PER), Anderson Varejao (6.06 PER)

-Key Injuries: Sasha Pavlovic (Questionable), Eric Snow (Out)

Washington Wizards:

-G Antonio Daniels (7.2 ppg, 2.6 apg, 0.4 spg, 12.74 PER)
-G DeShawn Stevenson (12.8 ppg, 3.0 apg, .387 3-pt%, 13.63 PER)
-F Caron Butler (18.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.4 apg, 18.26 PER)
-F Antawn Jamison (15.6 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 1.0 bpg, 14.96 PER)
-C Brendan Haywood (11.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 19.88 PER)

-Key Reserves: Roger Mason (12.72 PER), Darius Songalia (9.15 PER), Andray Blatche (7.31 PER)

-Key Injuries: Gilbert Arenas (Out)

Team Efficiency Stats

Cleveland Cavaliers:

-Off (93.6 ppg, 44.8 rpg, 21.8 apg, .418 FG %, .364 3pt%, 101.4 PER, Playoff Rank-11)
-Def (93.0 ppg, 36.4 rpg, 16.6 apg, .432 FG%, .320 3pt%, 101.1 PER, Playoff Rank-5)

Washington Wizards:

-Off (93.0 ppg, 36.4 rpg, 16.6 apg, .432 FG%, .320 3pt%, 101.1 PER, Playoff Rank-12)
-Def (93.6 ppg, 44.8 rpg, 21.8 apg, .418 FG%, .364 3pt%, 101.4 PER, Playoff Rank-6)

Game Notes

Where do we go from here? What is the key to this game for the Cavaliers? In the 3 home games, the Cavs have had 8, 10, and 13 turnovers, but in the 2 road games, they have had 23 and 18 turnovers. That simply cannot happen tonight if the Cavs want to win this game. The Cavs have made 9 or more three-pointers in 3 of the 5 games this series. That number is a little hard to believe because the Cavaliers were not a good 3-point shooting team in the regular season (36%, 16th in the NBA). So frankly, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop on this one and I don’t want to see the Cavaliers have to start relying on 3 pointers to keep them in the game because they are turning the ball over.

Much to the chagrin of our counterparts in DC, I do still feel that when playing to their capabilities, the Cavaliers are the better team in this series, mostly because Arenas is gone and LeBron is so overwhelmingly the best player on the court. If the Cavaliers focus on what they do best….rebound, play tough defense, and get someone other than LeBron going on offense early in the game, then the Cavaliers will be in great position to take care of business. Obviously, it’s not going to be that easy, though. Washington is not going to roll over and die. Not now. Not after Cleveland has given them a 2nd chance to get back in this series.

In Game 5 the Wizards were finally effective in bothering LeBron defensively. Though LeBron got to the free throw line frequently, he really struggled getting easy baskets and his FG% was awful (38%). Look for the Wizards to continue to allow LeBron to get the ball at the top of the key, but focus on keeping him there and making him beat them either with jump shots or at the free throw line. The Wizards also dramatically narrowed the rebound gap in the last game (39-40), which has given them confidence that they can do some things to disrupt the Cavaliers’ rebounding edge. The Wizards are going to come out blazing tonight and unless Cleveland plays their best game of the series, this is going to be a tough one to win.

Vegas Line

Washington -3.5
Over/Under 187.5

From The Outside Looking In

Bullets Forever
DC Sports Blog
Truth About It
Gilbert Arenas
Les Bullez